Reflecting electric lamp



y 1 H. A. DOUGLAS ,911,610

REFLECTING ELECTRIC LAMP Filed Feb. 3, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 :BvgwM Q52? May 30, 1933.

' A DOUGLAS.

REFLECTI NG ELECTRIC LAMP z'sheets-sneet 2 Fil d Feb. 5, 1930 Patented May 30, 1933 HARRY A. DOUGLAS, or BRONSON, firemen REFLECTING ELECTRIC LAMP Application filed February a, 1930. swarm. 425,542.

My invention relates to structures employing incandescent electric lamps and 1s particularly serviceable in connection with concave reflectors, though there are features of 5 my invention whose use is not to be thus 11mited. In lamp structures employing concave reflectors it has been the practice to mount incandenscent lamps upon and within such reflectors through the intermediation of lamp holding sockets which are carried by the re-. flectors and extend therethrough. These sockets carry circuit terminal contacts which are spring pressed against lamp contacts car ried upon the rear faces. of the lamp bases, 15 whereby the lamps are included in circult and are held in direct assembly'with their sockets. In structures now in use, the sprlng pressed contacts in the sockets press the bayonet pins or other projections against bayonet seats in the sockets, the reflectors merely serving as carriers for the sockets and taking no part in receiving the spring pressure which enables the lamps to be assembled with the reflectors. In accordance with. my invention the reflector, itself, is employed to receive the spring pressure that enables the assembly of the lamp and reflector, an arrangement which permits of direct assembly of the lamp and reflector and the simplification of the lamp socket and its assembly with .the reflector. In the preferred embodiment of the invention the lamp base is generally cylindrical and the reflector is provided with an opening therethrough which is generally circular with substantially the diameter of the lamp base. In this embodiment of the invention such opening is laterally extended to permit of the passage of the lamp base, where laterally extended, from the interior to the back of the reflector, the lamp base where laterally extended being engaged by a portion of the back of the reflector upon one side of the extension of the aforesaid opening in the reflector, following turning movement of the lamp. An abutment is provided at the hack of the reflector, this abutment margining the lateral extension of the opening in the reflector to hold the inserted lampfrom displacement. This abutment is desirably provided in the lamp socket which I provide REISSUED preferably at the rear of the reflector for the purpose of carrying at least one circuit terminal contact, which is spring pressed against a corresponding lamp contact provide upon the rear face of the lamp base, whereby the lamp is included in circuit and the lamp base, where laterally extended, is pressed against the back of the reflector instead of being pressed against a portion of the lamp socket. The socket is cutaway at its forward end and upon the rear of the reflector and lat erally of the extension of the opening in the reflector, whereby a space is afforded in 1 which the lamp base, where latenally extended, is received and has limited rhtary movement. Thus the bayonet slots that receive the pins upon the lamp base are thus jointly defined by the reflector and socket instead of being formed in the socket alone. The socket is desirably provided with assembling sprin I tongues extending forwardly therefrom an through lateral enlargements of the openin in the reflector, said tongues having sho ders engaging the front face of the reflector and holding the body of the socket against 7 the back of the reflector. The socket 1s desirably made of spring metal and is split to permit of its contraction as said tongues are entered into place.

My invention, in another of its aspects, resides in a contact carrier which is inclusive of a shell formed of sprin metal, this shell constituting the lamp soc et hitherto mentioned. The member which carries the spring pressed circuit terminal contact, or 35 other contact, is received within the shell. This contact carrying member is laterally ex tended to enter a lateral recess formation in the shell, the shell being split to permit of the expansion and, thereby of the passage of the contact carrying member, where laterally extended, into said recess formation, the shell, due to its resiliency, thereafter contracting to maintain the contact carrying member and shell in assembly. The shell is desirably flared at the contact carrying member receiving end thereof to guide this member, where laterally extended, into the recess formation in the shell.

I will explain my invention more fully by reference to the accampanying drawin s in which Fig. 1 is a view, on a large scale illustrating the preferred embodiment of my invention the incandescent lamp being shown in elevation, while the socket and parts assembled therewith and a fragmentary portion of the concave reflector are shown in section; Fig. 2 is a section view online 2- 2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a view in elevation of the lamp base and socket, a fragmentary portion of the reflector being shown in section; Fig.-

4 is a rear view of the structure as it appears in Fig. 3 with the reflector portion, however, shown as surrounding the lamp base; Fig. 5 is a view generally similar to Fig. 3, but taken at right angles to the direction in which Fig. 3 is taken; Fig. 6 is a sectional elevation of a complete automobile head lamp containin the preferred structure of my invention; ig. 7 is a sectional view on line 7.-7 of Fig. 1, the incandescent lamp being shown in full elevation;'and Fig. 8 is a perspective view showing the incandescent lamp base, the reflector, the lamp socket and the carrier for the spring pressed contact.

The head lampillustrated is inclusive of a parabolic reflector 1 whose concave reflecting face is covered by a light transmitting closure 2, which may be of glass. P This closure is held against the front of the reflector by an assembling ring 3 which also serves to assemble the reflector with a concave lamp sponding contact upon the lamp base where' by the bayonet pins 7 are pressed against the back 4. The construction of the peripheral rim portion of the reflector enabling the assembly of the reflector with the lamp back and the construction of the parts 3 and 4 may be of any well known or suitable character and form no novel parts in my present invention on which account further description of these parts need not be given. I'have illustrated an incandescent lamp on the axis of the parabolic reflector which is assembled with the reflector in accordance with the rior art. The lamp bulb 5 and the filament t erein are provided with a base 6 having bayonet pins 7 which are inserted within bayonet slots 8 formed in the forward\ end of the lamp socket 9. This lamp socket is passed through an opening formed in the crown of the reflector and is assembled therewith by means of the beads 10 which are formed upon the socket and tightly receive the annular portion of the deflector which margins the aforesaid opening therein. The circuit conductor 11 extends to a spring pressed circuit terminal, not shown, carried within the rear of the socket and pressing against a corre seats of the bayonet slots 8 to hold the lamp in direct assembly with the socket. In' my copending application Serial No. 425,543 filed February 3, 1930 I have illustrated an embodiment of my present invention, whereby an incandescent lamp employed in the general location ofthe lamp 5 may be most accurately positioned to bring the lighting center of its filament into coincidence with the focus of'the parabolic reflector.

The form of the invention herein shown may be employed where the incandescent lamp is located upon one side of the reflector .1axis,but.the claims herein are not to be limitbase surrounded thereby. This opening in the reflector has diametrically opposite lateral extensions 15 to permit of the passage of the lamp base where laterally extended at 13 from the interior to the back of the reflector. The lamp base, where laterally extended at 13, is engaged by portions of the part 14 upon the back of the reflector that are adjacent sides of the opening extensions 15 following turning movement of the lamp, as is clearly illustrated in the drawings. The engagement of the bayonet pins or projections 13 with the back of the reflector is maintained by a springpressed circuit terminal contact 16 which is desirably-carried by the reflector through the intermediation of a socket shell 17, assembled with the reflectorat the back thereof and in line with the opening in the reflector that'receives the lamp base 12. The socket is cut away at its forward end and upon the rear of the reflector and in line with and laterally of the opening portions 15 whereby bayonet channel formations result, these channel formationsbeing defined in part by the reflector instead of being formed altogetherin the lamp socket. The bayonet pins or projections 13 are received in these bayonet channels and have limited movement therein. .The abutments which are adjacent the opening extensions 15 concave re ecting face of the reflector or theuniformly convex back of the reflector,

and at the same time the location of the bayonet seat is directly determined by the back of the reflector itself. When the lamp base is being assembled with the reflector such base is pressed inwardly through the opening extensions 15 sufficiently to clear the free ends of the tongues 18 as .the lamp base is being turned, whereafter the spring pressed contact 16 presses the pins or projections against the rear of the reflector which positions these pins in the plane of the free ends of the tongues that. thus guard against the accidental removal of the lamp base.

The socket is desirably assembled with the reflector by means of spring tongues 19 inte'grally formed with the socket. There are desirably three such spring tongues each having a shoulder-20 spaced apart rom the body of the socket a distance substantially equallin the thickness of the sheetmetal of the re ector. These tongues are passed forwardly through lateral enlargements 21 in the lamp base receiving opening formed through the reflector. The shoulders 20 upon the tongues 19 are engaged by the outermost sides of the opening enlargements 21- to press the tongues inwardly during the passage thereof into position. As the body of the socket 17 is brought against the back of the reflector the shoulders 2O clear the opening enlargements 21 to permit the spring tongues to spring outwardly into place, whereby the contiguous portions of the reflector are held between said shoulders and the body of the socket. In the preferred embodiment of the invention the socket shell 17, which is desirably made of spring metal, is split as indi- ,'cated at 22, so as to be contracted by the shoulders 20 as these shoulders pass through the opening enlargements 21. The flexibility of the tongues 19 is 'thus effectively supplemented by the flexibility of the socket shell.

The incandescent lamp illustrated is asingle pole lamp whose filament 23 has one terminal connected'with a metallicsheath that surrounds and forms a part of the lamp base 12. The other filament of the terminal 23 is connected with a lamp contact 24 provided which surrounds the stem continuation 26 of upon the rear face .ofthe lamp base and upon the lamp axis. The circuit terminalcontact 16 is pressed against the contact 24 to secure the mechanical assembly of the incandescent lamp and also to com lete the gap in the lamp circuit at the re ector. This contact is pressed forwardly by a coiled spring 25 the contact 16. The stem 26 slides within a metallic sleeve 27 whose forward end is enlarged to form a socket for receiving the spring 25. The sleeve27 is carried by a memcesses 30 which are-preferably openings extending entirely through the socket shell 17 at the rear thereof. The rear end of the socket shell is flared at two places 31 in longitudinal alignment with two of the openings 30 whereby two of the fingers 29may be guided into place after the third of such fingers has been inserted in the remaining opening 30.

Changes may be made without departing from the invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. The combination with an incandescent electric lamp; of a concave reflector having a uniformly concave reflecting surface and a uniformly convex back, and spring means pressing the lamp base against the back of the reflector, wherein a socket is carried by this reflector that receives the lamp base and the spring means includes a coil spring carried by and bottomed in the socket, there being a bayonet seat for receiving a lateral projection provided upon the lamp base, this seat being jointly defined by said socket and reflector.

2. The combination with an incandescent electric lamp-whose base is laterally extended; of a concave reflector formed with an opening therethrough, this opening being of an extent permitting passage of the lamp base, where laterally extended, from the interior to the back of the reflector, said reflector having a uniformly concave reflectin surface and a uniformly convex back; an spring means pressing the lamp base, where laterally extended, forwardly and against the back of the reflector, wherein a socketis carried by the reflector that receives the lamp base and the spring means includes a coil" spring carried by and bottomed in the socket, therebeing a bayonet seat for receiving the lamp base, where laterally extended, this seat geing jointly defined by said socket and re- A ector.

3. A shell adapted to receive a contact car flaring portion at the contact carrying member receiving end thereof and positioned to engage the contact carrying member, where laterally extended, and guide it, where extended, into a recess formation in the'shell.

4. The structure of claim 3 wherein the contact carrying member is in the form of a disc laterally extended by having three fin gers distributed therearound arid the shell has three recesses receiving said fingers.

5. The structure of claim 3 wherein the contact carrying member is in the form of a disc having'three fingers distributed there around and the shell has three recesses receiving said fingers and wherein the shell is provided with two flaring portions atthe disc receiving end thereof to guide two of said fingers into the recesses corresponding thereto.

6. The combination with a socket; of a lamp base received in said socket; a reflector having an opening receiving said socket and lamp base therethrough; a bayonet pin on the lamp base; a bayonet seat jointly defined 5 by the reflector and socket, said socket being carried by the reflector; and a spring carried by the socket and pressing the bayonet pin into its seat.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name.

HARRY-A. DOUGLAS. 

